locked diff findings

[VH commodore]

i have read alot of discussion's/arguments on the subject of locked diffs. i have 2 cars with lockers, my vh and my celica heres my findings

to no surprise there is an increase in tyre wear. obviously the rear but also the front as when u turn sharply the rear wants to go straight and the front is trying to turn and causes the tyres to roll under the wheel etc...also slight increase on the turning circle because of this. any1 that says there is no increase in wear is lying! its obvious...when u turn sharp u can see skid marks from your tyres, thats rubber peoples!!

driving in the wet...to me makes it no more dangerous...if u do try to induce some oversteer and ur inexperienced i can see how it can be dangerous but thats your own fault...in saying that it is a hell of alot easier to hold it out sideways as u can predict what's going to happen and control it (i recommend keeping this activity to the track!!)

Diff lash! and annoying noises! this is annoying! unless u get your diff properly shimmed etc it will cluck around when u turn sharp with no load (eg, clutch in) the commodore is ok cuz its auto there always load on the diff but u can still hear it sometimes. once u get up to speed u dont even notice it most the time. over time i have started to notice random noises from the rear that didnt used to be there, id say my bushes are starting to flog out from the stresses.

i locked the celica diff just to see what its like and i am putting an open center diff back in this weekend as its annoying me too much and its a daily driver. the commodore diff was locked purely for traction as i was sick of spinning a wheel off the line. anyways thats just what i have found over the months of having lockers, peace!

[padrickz88]

For traction = fantastic
Tyre wear: on my fronts i haven't noticed any.... on the rears, well they dont last long enough
Cornering in the wet: Fine, actually better then a single UNLESS you push it, then you deserve what you get for being a dick
Cornering in dry: traction all the way

No clunking noises for me, but i do have the skipping noise if i take an extremely tight corner.... a general suburban street i can drive with no skipping most of the time


little tip, if you take alot of corner's and you want to hide the skipping, put 2 different tyre's on the back... usually 1 wheel slips a little without effort so it doesn't skip as much, obviously it depends on the tyre's

[vn calais manual]

my findings.


locked diffs FTW!

[Haydz]

thanks for the write up mate. i have been thinking about locked diff/lsd for a while now..



then i got motivated to take out the diff centre from my lsd. and im getting it fitting quite soon. so yeah.. thanks again mate.

[STEALTHY™]

On my findings of daily driving a locked diff car for 6 years(not months), no excess tyre wear, unless your using the car for the intended purpose of the locked diff. In which of course you'l be using your tyres.If you buy tyres, and not do a single skid, you wont use any.

I recently looked at my front tyres, and they still havn't shown any signs of wear, and they've been on the wheels over 2 years now (on a locked car for about 10,000, and 6000 on a non locked car) Rear tyres yes, its simple physics that there is wear.
My arguement is put said rear tyre next to a non locked cars tyre after the same amount of k's, and you wont be able to tell me which tyre can off the locked car.


Reputable diff builder = no backlash

[STEALTHY™]

thanks for the write up mate. i have been thinking about locked diff/lsd for a while now..



then i got motivated to take out the diff centre from my lsd. and im getting it fitting quite soon. so yeah.. thanks again mate.

You need to use an open wheeler housing, you cant spool an LSD housing.

[azkwazere]

im guessing you spooled it...

maybe you should have gone with a more "non-permanent lock" solution... say LSD or Lokka?

aZk.

[padrickz88]

LSD: Do a couple circle's and hen you worry if you have done damage
Spool: Never worry about the diff
Lokka: I'd get one, if i had a spare 600

[HDT_aero]

You need to use an open wheeler housing, you cant spool an LSD housing.

The housing is fine to use its the actual diff center that must be an open wheeler to spool an lsd housing can take an open center and therefore can end up being spooled with an standard center

[HDT_aero]

My experience with spools is 50/50 for and against spools do stress your suspension like a bitch and will cause you dramas in that department on the other hand you will never blow a spool ive taken out 3 axles and then spat some teeth out the housing but the spool went straight in the next diff un damaged lol

What was said in the first post is absolutly true im really at a loss to how stealthy can go around saying theres no noticable differance from a set of tyres with 10k kms on them from a spooled diff to a open wheeler im sure he probably thinks he goes around roundabouts and through servos without a single chirp too saying that you can make them last quite reasonably but I can guarantee they wont out last a set on an open wheeler driven in the same manner under the same conditions

one more note if your cars going to be driven on the streets this is not a legal option and the cops do know what to look for and will do you for it then when you remove it and take it down to the pits to get cleared the guy inspecting your car see's why you were defected and goes over your car with a fine toothed comb

But for burnout comps theres no other financially justifiable way lsd wont last too long and cost many times more than a spool and why spend big $$$ on a detroit locker to give it ****

[STEALTHY™]

I'm sorry you disagree with me. All i can say is my findings over the years. Keep in mind, thats absolutely NO burnouts done on those tyres. All i did is drive to work, and drive home. Which is what were comparing.


I know of a few cars that have gone through regency with a spool. And i personally went through a bretho making a 90 degree turn on gravel without the cops knowing. Guess some people can drive, and some cant.

[sik-holden]

must agree i have been driving on a locked diff for close to a year now, love it best thing i ever did, sure i have broken the mig special i couple times but you just grab the oxy and cut the weld out and re mig it lol.wouldnt say theres a massive differance in tyre wear, there is a noticable increase but its not that much to worry about, most of my driveing is in a straight line on the highway, the main problem i have with the mig special is that you get cuts in your tyres from the rocks in the road.

tim

[somerandom]

I had a spool in my last car (ford ED) and it was great, would rip it any time of day, everyday and you will always know you can control it, unlike my current car which has no spool, which will soon have one!! I have lost it once in my non-spooled car, as I was in my "driveway" coming around a bend in first, and went side ways, fish tailed up my "private driveway" and had to do a 180 or i would have hit a pole as I couldn't keep control of the bloody thing, very unpredictable. Guess what, I never had that problem in my old car that was spooled!

ps: driveway may or may not be true!

I had a guy from a ford forum install it, was ok, but had a bit of back lash, but im sure if I get it done by a diff builder it won't be a problem.

what ever you do, don't put fat fat tyres on the back, and skinny on the front, i found out the hard way as I was coming around a bend at 40kph, and the front wheels just kept skidding straight, I guess cause the spool is always pushing your car forward (you can actually tell by taking off that your back end feels different (to me, it felt a lot tighter to the road, then an open wheeler).

luckily i pulled up before i went bye-byes

I only put skinny on front and fat on back as the ones on front were new and i wanted to wear the rears out first

[Dan355]

Ive had a spool tight LSD's there was no noticable increase in tyre wear. Have to back stealthy on that. The other problems i have never experianced. I gues it all comes down to is tyre quality, age and size, have a think.

[STEALTHY™]

Ive had a spool tight LSD's there was no noticable increase in tyre wear. Have to back stealthy on that. The other problems i have never experianced. I gues it all comes down to is tyre quality, age and size, have a think.

I have never owned a 'proper' LSD, drive a Kaaz one, but not owned. all of my comparisens were spool - open wheeler. Not that it would make a difference.


What do you prefer to drive? spooled or LSD?

Wagons diff is on its way out, not sure what to go, lokka, LSd, or spool

[padrickz88]

looka or spool..... the vids ive seen you would kill that lsd in a day lmao...

[STEALTHY™]

looka or spool..... the vids ive seen you would kill that lsd in a day lmao...

Its for the wagon. Which probably wont ever do a burnout.

[beefcream]

my cars got a lokka in it, i reckon its ace but i mean a spool would be great.
i like mine cause its just normal open but as soon as it has any sort of power 2 it then it locks right up and the fun begins. u can make it act like a spool cause doin a uturn or any turn with acc it just skipps around and yea.

u quickly realise how much throttle will lock her up and u can play with that depending what u wanna do. although i also ahve backlash and axel tramp. plus the noise can get a bit annoyin at times!

the only real reason i went lokka over lsd is i think they are unpredictable and wear out like crazy if u wanna give it a bit of a hammering, i dont wanna have to get my diff reshimed and tightened all the time because it starts to let go after a bit of play

[Dan355]

I have never owned a 'proper' LSD, drive a Kaaz one, but not owned. all of my comparisens were spool - open wheeler. Not that it would make a difference.


What do you prefer to drive? spooled or LSD?

Wagons diff is on its way out, not sure what to go, lokka, LSd, or spool

The Kaaz centre in my ss is great fun locks up real easy, no pushing or tyre skipping but for the $$$$$ id go a well build LSD. Spools are great fun to but just a little annoying.